Wintersports
Skiing
How to get better at skiing: Tips to improve your skills
Ready to improve your skiing skills? Discover essential tips to master the slopes, from refining your turns to building confidence on steeper terrain.
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Whether you’re just finding your footing or you’re ready to advance to the black diamond, there’s always room to refine your skiing skills. Skiing improvement isn’t exclusive to beginners; Experienced skiers continually push themselves for better control, speed, and fluidity.
Bobby Brown jumps and grabs at Red Bull Cascade 2023 in Winter Park, CO
© Daniel Milchev / Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull skier Bobby Brown is one to stay on top of refining his skiing abilities, aiming to bring more to freestyle skiing. From the mind of Brown came Red Bull Cascade, a competition designed to challenge every discipline of skiing in a fun and creative format. "What I think has been missing from the competition world is showcasing a variety of styles in one event," Brown said. "We want to open up the door for different riders to showcase their skills, whether it’s technical tricks or someone who rides more transitions and natural hits and looks at the mountain in a totally different way."
Learn to master some of the basics by reading the below on how to get better at skiing with practical steps.
01
Master the basics first
Proper stance and balance
The foundation of good skiing starts with a solid stance. A balanced position provides control, flexibility, and stability. Keep your knees slightly bent, and align your skis hips-width apart with your arms to the sides and elbows bent. If you’re going straight down, keep your weight equal on each ski, but if you’re turning you’ll need to shift your weight accordingly. For simple slopes, a slight lean allows the weight to be centered with control. Keep in mind that this position will change as you go on steeper slopes.
Flexibility allows for constant changes to your stance as you tackle different directions and slope angles. A loose but stable body position lets you react quickly to any unexpected bumps or changes in the snow.
Skiing posture
Lindsey Vonn far ahead of the competition
© Francis Bompard/Agence Zoom
Skiing requires your upper and lower body to work together in what can also be called an “athletic stance.” This involves ankles, knees, and hips moderately bent, arms forward while out to the side, and an overall wide stance.
As you move, your upper body should face downhill while your legs and skis follow the terrain. Shoulders should align with your toes, while your butt lines up with your heels. Never stand up completely straight. Your knees to be bent, and your ankles should be able to bend inside your boots as well.
While skiing, your base of support (your feet) should be hip-width on pistes or closer together when skiing on powder snow and bumps. Your center of mass is typically around the abdomen. But when bending with your arms on skis, your center of mass moves to your side, right outside the core.
02
Focus on edging and carving
How to improve edge control
Lindsey Vonn performing
© Erich Spiess/Red Bull Content Pool
Edging involves pressing your ski edges into the snow for more precise turns. Effective edging lets you maintain control at higher speeds and enhances grip on icier terrain.
Practice pressing into your ski edges by shifting your upper body face down at the fall line — the line a ball would travel if rolled downward. Then, angle your knees and ankles downhill. The skis should now face across the fall line — they’ll now be horizontal. Wait a couple of seconds before tipping both knees and ankles uphill. That tipping shift will force the edges to stop.
Practice edging on groomed slopes with some pitch, or steepness, before putting your skiing skills to the test on a deeper slope. Repeat these movements of pressing skis, making them parallel, tipping them, and stopping to master edging.
03
Practice turns and transitions
Linking turns
Transitioning from one turn to another smoothly is crucial for flow and speed control. Focus on linking turns without stopping or pausing in between. This keeps your momentum consistent and lets you control speed.
One of the most effective skiing tips for beginners and intermediate skiers is learning to link turns, keeping your descent controlled and your movements seamless. S-turns are one of the best versions because it allows you to maintain speed or generate additional momentum. When on the slope, change the ski direction without pointing across the fall line at the end before repeating to draw an “S.”
Turning downhill and drawing a never-ending “S,” called S turns, allows skiers to stay parallel and link each turn. Each radius of linked turns is created from the ski’s sidecuts. A shallow sidecut creates a large radius, typically over 20 meters. In contrast, a deep sidecut produces a small radius, which means it’s a tight turn. A short radius is 10-15 meters with a medium turn being 15-20 meters. If you do sharp linked turns, your path will resemble a “Z” more than an “S.”
Protip: Look ahead on the slope rather than focusing directly on your skis. This will guide you smoothly through each turn.
Weight shifting
Michelle Parker in British Columbia
© Blake Jorgenson/Red Bull Content Pool
Shifting your weight correctly can make turns feel natural and controlled. As you begin a turn, lead with your outside ski, while gradually shifting your weight to the other ski for stability. As you turn, the inside ski will become the new outside ski, which is where you’ll transfer your weight next. This weight shift helps your skis grip the snow better and keeps your movements fluid and smooth.
As the weight transfers, remember the word “smooth.” Don’t jump into a shift early or immediately because the skis will skid on the snow. Ease into the weight transfer, so you don’t skid out. Flexing or pushing off the foot that’s transferring the weight helps you easily land on the new outside ski.
04
Develop speed control
Using turn shape for speed management
Your turn shape greatly affects how fast or slow you ski. At the same time, different terrains affect how you manage your speed and turns. In addition to the S-turn, the J-turn, and C-turn are common turn shapes that are ideal for practicing speed control.
- J-turn: Point your skis downward, push off the fall line, and turn your skis back to come to a stop. This method is great for testing new slopes and slow speeds.
- C-turn: Position your skis pointing across the fall line. Draw a “C” with your skis and maintain speed without completely stopping. This turn shape is great for steeper slopes.
If you choose to test out other turn styles, remember that tighter turns allow you to maintain or build speed. Learn to adjust turns to suit the terrain, as every skiing experience will be different.
Handling steeper slopes
Red Bull Cascade
© Josh Conroy
Steep slopes require even more precision. Try using a technique like side-slipping, which involves using your ski edges to slide diagonally down the slope. You’ll gain controlled speed without a sharp turn. This ski technique is especially helpful in difficult sections. Besides learning side-slipping, here’s some pointers to handle steep slopes:
- Don’t lean back. Rather, maintain balance in the middle.
- Make rounded turns instead of jagged, tight turns.
- Aim for consistent speeds. Don’t start slow and gain momentum; that’ll cause a loss of control.
- Stay focused while skiing. Don’t get distracted by your surroundings, no matter how beautiful they may be.
- Look over your chosen terrain before starting, so you take note of possible obstacles far in advance.
- Keep your shoulders in downward positions while your body is stacked over the skis.
05
Strengthen your body for skiing
Leg and core strength
Skiing demands a strong lower body. Exercises like squats, lunges, and hip thrusts can build the power needed for stability and endurance. Prevent sore legs by strengthening quads, hamstrings, and glutes. To do this, try single-leg Romanian deadlifts, Bulgarian split squats, floor jacks, and step-ups. You can also try out resistance band exercises, like lateral stepping, clamshells, and standing kickbacks, to strengthen your legs. These exercises help you develop control and balance on skis while gliding down different slopes.
Abdominal strength is key for proper turns. Core exercises, such as planks and Russian twists, improve balance and control. This will help you make smoother turns and stay steady on uneven terrain, especially when needing to go side to side. Move side to side with the plank workout by adding twisting movement. This will stabilize and strengthen your core to accomplish your ski route. Other abdominal workouts to try are bicycle crunches, reverse jack-knifes, and mountain climbers.
Flexibility and balance
Red Bull Cascade 2022 at Winter Park, Colorado
© Josh Conroy / Red Bull Content Pool
Flexibility plays a key role in reducing injury risk and helping with range of motion on the slopes. Stretch your hamstrings, quads, and hips regularly to increase flexibility. With loose muscles, you’ll be able to gain more mobility and resilience.
Balance drills can help you stay centered and stable, especially on variable terrain. Focusing on core and hip strength with flexibility will help control the skis. Practice lift exercises with resistance bands to help improve balance.
The hip clock exercise improves coordination and helps to prepare you for uneven slopes or balancing on one ski if need be. Balance on one slightly bent leg, lift and extend the other leg to the 12 o’clock position in front of you, and bring it back to the center. For the left leg, after the 12 o’clock position, repeat in the three and six o’clock positions five to eight times. After the left leg, raise the right leg for the 12, nine, and then six o’clock positions also for five to eight reps.
Take lessons or practice with a coach: How to choose what’s best for you
For beginners, group lessons provide a supportive environment to learn the basics, with general feedback suitable for new skiers. Group lessons are a sociable experience, too, where you can meet other skiers and eventually plan your own trips together. It’s also more affordable to book a group lesson instead of a private one-on-one session.
As skiers progress, private lessons can provide tailored feedback and customized drills to focus on specific skills. Having a coach who can pinpoint areas for specific skiing improvement is a game-changer, especially for intermediate and advanced skiers. Private lessons also give skiers a coach’s undivided attention when it’s time to learn more technical skills. A coach’s attention is divided in a group setting, but one-on-one lessons are just that. It’s you with the coach — that’s it.
If there’s a certain skill you want to learn or if you need to adjust the lesson plans, private lessons allow for customization. In addition, quick learners can have private lessons at their own pace, so they don’t have to wait on anyone if part of a group lesson. These lessons also give shy skiers the confidence to learn and make mistakes without concern that they’re falling behind others.
The best practice of all: Get to skiing
The most important skiing tip? Get out there. Improvement comes from repetition, so embrace the process of honing each ski technique. Work on mastering the fundamentals and gradually incorporate more advanced skills. Above all, enjoy the journey — every run is an opportunity to refine your style and skill.
